One Day at a Time
by sam-derevko
Summary: For the first time in her life, she didn't have a goal: a direction to follow. For the first time in his, he wanted to be taken seriously. 'I'll take care of you. I know I can and I swear I will.' 'Very funny Fred.' FWHG Slightly AU. adopted by EE.


Disclaimer: I do not own anything that you can recognize from J.K. Rowling's enthralling book: Harry Potter

Title: One Day at a Time

Summary: slightly AU. FWHG For the first time in her life, she didn't have a goal: a direction to follow. For the first time in his, he wanted to be taken seriously. "I'll take care of you. I know I can and I swear I will." "Very funny Fred."

Authors Note: I only recently started reading FWHG stories. I got hooked on the best one there was out there (Well, at least that's what a lot of people say on the reviews): Just a Harmless Joke. So I thought I would take a crack-at-it.

_'Thoughts'_

"Speaking"

**Bulletin/Announcement**

_Letter/Mail_

Chapter 1 – The Importance of Looking and Leaping

By sam-derevko

Hermione smiled as Professor Binns drowned on about the Battle of Hastings; the Norman Conquest of Britain and its effects on Wizarding England. For the first time in years, neigh, for the first time ever, Hermione was not paying attention in class. She was staring at the back of a particular red-headed male classmate of hers whose head was down and had a little slobber pool forming on his desk.

She smiled as she recollected his rather obvious insinuations towards her during breakfast that morning. He had been uncharacteristically kind to her all month; opening doors for her, paying a lot more compliments on her brilliance and whatnot, and even opting to go to the library with her one afternoon when Harry had offered him to play Quidditch instead. Something was going on with the boy and Hermione had delightfully noticed that it had something to do with her.

She was startled as Harry put a hand on her shoulder and indicated that the Professor had dismissed them. She smiled at him and started gathering her things. Harry shook his head and proceeded to the very difficult task of waking his best friend.

"Oy, Ron. Class is over. Hurry up or we'll be late for Divination!" Harry cried as he shook his friend awake.

"Where's the fire?" Ron mumbled as his head shot up but his eyes were still heavily laden.

Hermione giggled.

Ron must have heard her since he glanced back, turned red, quickly got to his feet and rushed out the door with Harry at his heels shouting "See you at dinner!" at their wake.

Hermione sighed as she noticed he had left a spare bit of parchment on his desk. She picked it up and stuffed it in her bag. Arithmancy was only a corridor away from the History of Magic Classroom so she needed not to hurry.

Professor Vector greeted her as she sat down at the front of the class and listened intently at their new lesson.

As Hermione walked into the Great Hall she spotted Harry and Ron eating and laughing merrily at something Seamus had said. She smiled and walked over to them. They made a space for her in the middle of Harry and Ron and she sat down.

"How was Arithmancy?" Harry asked her, taking a bite out of his steak.

"Oh, it was wonderful. I'm really glad that I took up that class. Maths really was one of my best subjects at Primary." She smiled.

"I didn't really like it. The numbers were confusing sometimes." Harry shrugged.

"I know what you mean, mate." Dean Thomas joined in. "How was I supposed to know what 'x' was? I barely knew what a+b meant!"

"Wouldn't that be 'ab'? You know, like the singular of abs?" Seamus asked.

Hermione shook her head, holding back a laugh. "You see, a and b are variables meaning they represent an unknown number each so let's say a is 2 and b is 5 then 2 + 5 is 7."

Seamus didn't seem to care all that much and started talking to Dean about Quidditch.

"Sorry 'bout that Hermione." Harry sighed. "He's a little on the proud side. He doesn't like it when people correct him even if that person is a lot more brilliant."

"Thank you Harry." Hermione smiled.

"Yeah." Ron agreed and scooped up the remaining mashed potatoes on his plate and stuffed it into his mouth. "Wanna go to the library Hermione? I'm ready if you are."

Hermione nodded and took a few bites from Harry's steak, he didn't mind.

"See you at the commons Harry." She called when the pair left towards the library.

Just as they were about to enter Ginny came out and smiled when she saw the pair.

"Ron! I was looking for you. Fred owled me and guess what?" she smiled.

"What?" Ron asked, taking a peek behind his sister into the library then sighing as Ginny reprimanded him.

"Well, I would tell you sooner if you just bloody look at a person when they're talking to you. Honestly, I thought mum raised you better. Worst one of our lot."

"Then just tell me if you are so excited about it. I don't want to play your mind games."

"Fine." Ginny pouted. "Fred and George bought out Zonko's! The income they were getting from their shop at Diagon Ally was enormous! Their sales quadrupled over last Christmas and they finally got the monopoly Zonko's used to have on Magical Pranks and gag items. And they now own the Zonko's shop in Hogsmeade!" Ginny squealed.

"That's bloody fantastic!" Ron smiled and hugged his sister. "Who knows, maybe they'll buy me a new broom."

Ginny hit her brother on the head. "Honestly. You got Knuts in the brain. I can't even say Galleons or Sickles since those would be enough to buy you a better brain."

Hermione laughed as Ginny stormed off.

"I'm really glad for your brothers." Hermione told Ron.

"Yeah, who knew they would trounce even Percy on the monetary department? Percy was the most dedicated and intelligent out of all of us." Ron shrugged as they entered the library and sat down at a table.

"I don't really agree with you on that. I mean, Fred and George wouldn't have gotten where they are right now without some brains and a lot of determination. Even I can't figure out how they made the fake wands in the first place. I mean, the charm work they had to-"

"I know." Ron interrupted her. "They're _my_ brothers. I'm glad for them."

Hermione grinned sheepishly. "I know. I'm sorry."

Ron grinned and shook his head. "No need to be. So what's on your agenda tonight?"

Hermione laughed as Ron opened the library door for her and bowed her in.

Hermione didn't think that Ron could get any sweeter. He offered to carry her books when she grabbed a few from the Charms Section and offered to do some research when she couldn't quite find what she was looking for. Not to mention he hurried his dinner for her. Ron and food were like fish and water. He had to get some twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

Hermione woke up to a wonderful Saturday and a Hogsmeade weekend. She was scheduled to meet Harry and Ron in the commons at ten. It was only seven-thirty. She took her time getting up and picking something to wear since she wanted to look extra special for Ron today. She picked out a denim knee-length skirt and a blue sweater. She took her time in the bathroom and made sure her hair wasn't a total mess and braided it. She put on a few sprits of the perfume Ginny had given her last Christmas. She lined her lips with two layers of cherry-pink lip gloss and stepped into a pair of two-inch heeled blue sandals. She was ready.

She checked the clock on her nightstand and found it was already nine-fifty. She breathed in and out and relaxed herself as she descended the girl's staircase.

She found Harry sitting on the couch alone.

"Harry?" she called.

Harry turned his head and smiled at her. "You look pretty dressed up. What's the occasion?"

Hermione blushed. "Err…"

But Ginny had saved Hermione by coming down with make-up on and wearing a green v-neck-lined blouse and brown corduroy skirt.

"Oh, good. I was beginning to worry that you wouldn't dress appropriately for Fred and George's launching of the new shop." She smiled.

Hermione smiled back and breathed a sigh of relief. "That's right. Fred and George's new shop is opening today."

"Bloody brilliant seeing as it's a Hogsmeade weekend." Harry spoke as he approached them.

"SO where is that idiot brother of mine?" Ginny asked. "It's nearly half past ten."

Hermione looked to Harry.

"I dunno. He left kind of early this morning. I guess we'll meet him at breakfast or at the entrance."

But they didn't see him at breakfast or the entrance. A quick scan of the names of the students that had already left told them he had been gone for a good two hours.

They were talking about his sudden disappearance when they walked down from the carriage and spotted a gaggle of Hogwarts student surrounding what used to be Zonko's Joke Shop. Hermione, Harry and Ginny all squeezed their way through to find that the sign for Zonko's Joke Shop had been replaced by the sign of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and the store had undergone a lot of changes.

For one, it was now three stories high and the building was covered in paint splats of different colors. The window display was showing off a miniature version of the fireworks display the twins had released on Umbridge back in their fifth year. The door was being pounded on by many third years and a few fifth and fourth year students when there was a large and pronounced sign that clearly stated the word 'Closed'.

The three fought their way through the third years and Ginny shouted at the door.

"Oy! Let your only sister in, you little buggers!"

The curtain covering the little widow of the door moved a little and a blue eye peeked out. The curtain was drawn back more and the face of one of the Weasley twins surfaced and smiled at them before a speaker box appeared replacing the door handle and the twin made a motion of covering his ears. The three followed his example and an alarming burst of sound reverberated out of the speakers.

"OY! WE ARE NOT OPEN! WE HAVE A BLOODY SIGN SAYING SO! CHECK YOUR WATCHES! THE LAUNCHING IS AT ONE! IT'S ONLY ELEVEN! NOW STEP AWAY FROM THE DOOR OR WE WILL PUSH THE OPENING TIME TO BE AT THREE PM!" the entire gaggle quieted down and stared at the speaker. "Thank you and please make an orderly line to be accommodated to enter the shop at noon. Please explore the wonderful village until then. All those who line before twelve are banned from our shop. You have been warned."

The crowd dispersed quickly until Harry, Hermione and Ginny were the only ones standing in front of the door. The speaker disappeared and the door opened.

Fred and George stood there smiling at them.

"I guess we have a few people to ban now, right George?" Fred smiled.

"Right you are Fred. What descriptions should we write up?" George asked.

"Hmm… skin and bones with a fair amount of muscle, a black mop of hair and a lightning shaped scar for the boy-like cockroach, and fiery, little, long haired, bossy Weasel for our dear sister." Fred said putting the emphasis on 'bossy' for Ginny.

"What about the broad?" George asked. "Would pretty little bookworm with a bush of brown hair suffice?"

"More than enough dear brother." Fred smiled and they both started laughing.

"Only joking." They said together.

"Hermione's hair is braided today so a rope of brown hair is more adequate. She looks especially ravishing today too, don't you agree George?"

"A lot more than I can say for our dear sister. Too much make-up, skin is shown too much, rather slu-"

"You continue that sentence and you will feel my wrath." Ginny seethed as her ears turned red, a sure sign she was very angry.

They laughed again and ushered them all in. Even Hermione had to gasp at the shop.

It was a beautiful chaos. The only words even Hermione could think of.

The walls were lined top to bottom in shelves which were full of different colors and sizes of boxes and labels. The floor was decorated with more paint splats and some 3D paint splats that were stand up versions were used as displays for products.

"Right, so shall we give them a tour?" one of the twins smiled at their shocked expressions.

"Of course!" the other bowed. "I am Fred Weasley and shall be half of your tour guide."

"And I am George Weasley, the better half." George smiled, bowing as well.

"Hey!"

George pointed to the west side of the first floor. "That is the Gag items Section that contains our various gag items such as the trick wands, punching telescopes and headless hats. On the east side of the shop is the Skiving Snackboxes Section. We're giving it its own sections because you can either buy the box or an item within the box per piece. Since we are very near our beloved school full of students who are dying to skive off lessons, we feel there is a need to give it its own section."

"Over there is the North Injuries and WonderWitch Section. It's got the Bruise-Remover Paste and the Guaranteed Ten-second Pimple Vanisher. George and I got a lot of new stuff too. Especially for our WonderWitch line of products. Alicia says she swears on our stuff now. The all-purpose hair styling gel is her favorite. Turns hair into the color of the witch's choice and makes the hair a lot easier to handle when styling. Plus, it has a conditioner to let the hair take no damage. It's got a ten-hour lasting time and it comes off with water. George and I had to cut all our hair off all the time when we were testing it. But the products good now. Ask Alicia." Fred said proudly.

"In the middle is all our Zonko based products. It's still the same stuff except we tweaked them a bit. We now have Dungbomb Deluxe, Hiccup and High-note sweets and a lot more. With Zonko's permission of course." George assured them.

Fred pointed to the cash register in front of the display case and two large candy canes on either side of the door. "We have top of the line security too. The register over there runs itself but we will be seen actually manning it from time to time. Those candy canes double as thief detectors and cameras. Each strip of red and white actually take the pictures of the store and are sent to our office at the top floor of the building. And if anyone wants to walk out with our products that are not paid for, those candy canes are quite heavy and easily fall unto unsuspecting thieves. Of course all windows and doors will lock upon activation of the candy cane too just in case they have accomplices."

The two then bowed towards the staircase that was leading up to the second floor. "Up we go!" they said together.

Hermione ran her hand along the yellow and blue striped railing. She couldn't believe it. The twins had used the charm Mr. Weasley had used on the old Ford Anglia and the Ministry cars to make the inside of the shop a lot bigger than how it seemed from the outside. Outside it was a small yet tall shop but from the inside… it was humungous. She had to hand it to the twins. They did a great job.

The second floor opened up and the ceiling was covered in fireworks exploding every few minutes. Hermione smiled. The atmosphere was so happy and she couldn't help but want to buy a few gags and bags of tricks.

The second floor was visibly less crowded. Aside from the four candy-canes adorning on the four corners of the room, the walls were lined with framed pictures of famous Witches and Wizards through the Ages donned the walls. Below the Moving portraits were three barrels per portrait that seemed to be full of some kind of multicolored candy.

"What are those?" Hermione asked.

George smiled. "Fred, my brilliant twin, figured why not help old Binsy out on History of Magic and now you see our line of prank candy! Each of these wonderfully devious Witches and Wizards has their own types of candy. Like, let's see… Circe. Her candy is caramel flavored and turns the victim into a different kind of animal since she's famous for turning people into beasts. I can't tell you which animal is which candy because they are all jumbled up in there. Of course, you'll find an extra barrel of Canary Creams too. Not really her but turns you into an animal so we figured we should put it there too."

"That's brilliant!" Harry smiled as he saw the number of witches and wizards all either extremely sinister looking or had an extremely wise aura and some even donned a 'special jacket'.

Ginny spotted a familiar face at one of the corners of the floor. "What type of candy does Dumbledore get?" she asked.

Hermione looked to where Ginny was pointing and smiled. Their headmaster was sitting on a regal looking chair and his eyes were twinkling like always.

"Ah, Dumbledore. George here was the one to come up with the special candy for him. Of course its lemon drop flavored and it's set to do either one of three things: You turn into a bowling pin and will not turn back until you are knocked down, You start singing chamber music and won't stop for fifteen minutes or You start getting this weird twinkle in your eye and grow a gray mustache and beard." Fred smiled.

Hermione had to applaud the two. This was very advanced magic, being able to make all this candy and have the charms placed on them.

"The center-north section is the pyramids of fireworks. There's a pyramid for each of the Blaze Boxes, Deflagration Deluxe and Wildfire Whiz-bangs fireworks over there. We only got a small supply of those though. They are darn expensive to make. We figured it would be smarter to get the more expensive items in bulk at the Diagon Shop." Hermione was losing track of which twin was which.

"The center-east is for the defenses, disguises, eaves-droppings and distractions. Mostly our old stuff like shield hats and extendable ears. There's a new product we got called 'Mustache-glasses'. We saw a couple at a Muggle novelty store and decided to tweak them a bit. It disappears when you push this button on the lens and your eyes will instantly turn into the color of the frames. Like these blue ones will turn your eyes blue and whatnot. The mustache disappears and whatever color the mustache is, your hair will turn into that color. It's a mix and match really. But custom ones will have to be pre-ordered. Of course, Portable Swamps are here in honor of our Great Escape and Decoy-Detonators too." The other twin smiled and put on a pair of Mustache-glasses proudly. He pushed the button and his eyes turned fiery red and his hair a bright green. "Lasts for a whole hour."

"The center-west is for Games and Dangerous devices. Except for the Re-usable hangman these are mostly new stuff. Like the wand-tag game. It's more of an evolution of the trick wands though. We made it so that the 'it' gets to hold the wand and tries to cast 'lumos' on the other players. Whoever gets hit by the light would automatically be 'it' and the wand would fly to them but the more times you get 'it', your hair starts growing. It's a very long game, especially if there are a lot of you. The person with the longest hair loses." The normal looking twin explained.

"But what about those with long hair to begin with? That would be unfair." Hermione pointed out.

"Technically, yes but we didn't say scalp hair now did we?" The twin with the green hair smiled. "Whiskers will sprout out and I don't think a lot of people have whiskers on their faces. The person with the longest whiskers looses. But we do have alternative ones like longest nails or longest nose too."

"The center-south is for-"

"Hang on a minute. Which products are the Dangerous devices?" Ginny asked.

Fred and George looked at each other. "Those aren't technically out yet. We're still adjusting some stuff but a few prototypes are there on display. Top-level security on those. If anyone and I mean anyone, touches them, they will learn the meaning of 'hands-off'."

"Now, as I was saying the center south is for the Distraction-actions. We got the Patented Daydream Charms you like so much Hermione." The one with the green hair smiled widely. "But now we also have sunglasses that take a image of how you look like awake and project them on your face while you snooze during class, but it cannot prevent drooling or loud-snoring. We got a whole lot more but it is almost half-past eleven and we want to show you our flat. We'll both be staying here till Christmas holls but George would man the main Diagon Ally shop after. At least until he trains our assistants over there adequately enough. We're sure to get more business on this end for the school year."

"But how will you two make new stuff when you're apart?" Harry asked.

"Ah, that's the thousand galleon question now, isn't it?" George, the one with the normal hair and eyes, smiled. "I'd go over here during Mondays to talk about how the weekend sales went and Fred would come over to the Diagon Shop during Fridays to get more supplies and such. Wednesdays we go to our flat in London to make new stuff."

"Who's going to be in this shop when Fred's gone?" Hermione asked.

"I will." A familiar voice surprised them by coming out of a door at the very back of the room. It was labeled 'Private if you value your Privates'.

"Ron?" Ginny exclaimed. "Where have you been? We thought you died or something."

Ron chuckled. "Nah. Fred owled me late last night and asked if I could help set-up early this morning. He offered me a job too. Dumbledore said it was okay if I promise to uphold my grades in our schoolwork."

Fred snorted something that sounded a lot like, "what grades?"

The six of them went into the door and found a staircase leading up to the third floor. Upstairs was a modest flat for the twins. It had two bedrooms and a bath with a kitchen and a living room and a spare room which was filled with books and a potions table.

"What's this room for?" Ginny asked when they entered the room with the books and potions kits.

"Testing and Research. We could work on new products during our free time. It's got a permanent silencing charm-"Fred was interrupted by a gasp from Hermione.

"How did you perform that? I heard it's very complicated to cast! And these books! Some of them aren't even at the school library! Potions for the Potions Masters, Basic Potion ingredients effects and reactions, and even Charming the Charmed volume eight! How did you get these?"

"Well, Fred and I placed an order and we…err… got them?" George stated the obvious and Hermione blushed.

"Here" Fred said picking out the three books she had enlisted. "You can borrow them if you like. Just owl them back as soon as your finished with them."

"No, I can't possibly-"

"Look, I won't be able to concentrate hard enough on making new stuff in a while and besides, I still have to manage the shop. Not too much free time on my hands now is there? George would be too busy to use these either. Our assistant is hopeless at the Patented Weasley Organization System." Fred smiled at her, she blushed.

"What system would that be?" Ginny asked curiously.

"Total chaos." George answered and the twins laughed.

"It's already quarter till twelve George. Let's check on the supplies one more time." Ron said as he checked his watch.

George nodded.

"I'll bring them down to the first floor." Fred said as they made their way down.

The four were at the first floor once again while Ron and George disappeared behind a door that was situated behind the staircase. A similar sign to the one on Fred and George's flat was placed on it.

"Where does that door go?" Harry asked.

"Downstairs Storage Room. I'll take you down some other time, its twice the size of this room. Amazing if only we could find or organize our products after we open the shop. It gets disastrous down there. It's just a lot easier to read label and pull out the box when other boxes don't topple all over you." Fred laughed.

When the clock struck twelve a gaggle of voices could be heard from outside. They all took a peek and saw hundreds of faces lined up to the front door all the way to the three broomsticks.

"Well, I guess we'll be hit here then." Fred smiled.

Harry and Hermione chuckled while Ginny hit her brother on his arm.

The three of them were given a bag full of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes products and were shown out. As they walked past the other students they all glared at them.

"Popular, aren't we?" Ginny laughed.

The rest of the trip consisted of Harry and Ginny giving each other looks, butter beers to be drunk, Harry and Ginny giving each other looks, and of course, more Harry and Ginny giving each other looks. She couldn't have felt more like a third wheel if she tried. She missed Ron even more. She felt bad since she even dressed up for him, and it all proved to be in vain.

When she couldn't take Harry and Ginny's looks of longing any further, she left the two alone near the Shrieking Shack. She only had one person she wanted to see: Ron. She fought her way through the gaggles of students trying to go in and out of the shop. She could barely breathe with all of her schoolmates pushing and shoving their way through. She was finally able to get into the shop and found George bustling over fallen boxes of Skiving Snackboxes which were literally flying off the shelves as people summoned them instead of coming closer.

Hermione made her way towards him and shouted, "Ron?"

He put up two fingers and pointed to the crowded stairs. She thanked him and started to ascend.

Hermione was too shy to push her way through the crowd so she let them steer her up the stairs instead. She was glad the twins had given them a tour earlier. It would be a lot harder if they hadn't and she would be completely lost. She could barely see the displays anymore with the dozens of students pilling around them.

She saw a familiar red head and quickly tried to make her way through.

"Ron!" she shouted.

He didn't turn his head and instead he continued restocking the candies underneath Morgana.

"Ron!" she shouted again, getting closer.

A third year rushed pass him and the barrel he was restocking fell to the floor with a thud.

"Ron!" she shouted as loud as she could, looking to the floor for any sign of him.

She growled under her breath in frustration. She was so frustrated, the picture of Harry and Ginny giving each other loving stares, all those younger students elbowing her ribs and stomach, a few older ones stepping on her feet and pushing her, and Ron not even looking at her or complimenting her when she so clearly dressed up for him. Her hair was a mess, she was sweaty and she was tired trying to find and spend one moment alone with Ron! She was just over the brim frustrated. This was a bad day and she was determined to change that fact around.

She was standing over him, her hands on her hips and steam coming out of her ears.

"RON!" she shouted.

He still didn't look up, picking up the colorful pieces of candy littering the ground.

She growled again and kneeled down next to him.

"Let's see if you can ignore this!" she huffed and put her hands on his face and pulled her lips to his.

She didn't know what took over her. Images of Ron helping her in the library, opening the door for her, complimenting her, and smiling the gorgeous innocently clueless smile at her. Her hands trailed down his face and resting on the back of his neck. She put all her passion into the kiss and tried her best to make it the best he had ever had or would ever have from another girl. He didn't respond at first then slowly, she felt his lips moving beneath hers. This sparked an energy within Hermione that she didn't know she possessed. She moaned as he nibbled on her lip softly, making sure she wouldn't feel hurt or surprised. She felt his hands enclose around her waist and she felt him hold her in such a caring and passionate way. She smiled into the kiss then she heard something she knew Ron would never do at a time like this. She heard the person she was kissing laugh.

Authors Note:

SO how was it? Please Read and Review this is the first fic I have written on FWHG. I only started reading this coupling recently and well, needless to say, I 'liked' it. Haha… okay… maybe loved.

Please review. Good or Bad. I'm all ears.


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